Monday, July 5, 2010

My delay in posting is due to the insane 4th of July weekend. I'm still puffy from overindulging in terrible, wonderful foods and plenty of liquor. And honestly, I'm not super excited to report this month's numbers. Here's why:

This month was horrible in terms of shopping. I was doing fine in that area for a while, but then I realized I had no summer clothes. I have long been on a search for my holy grail of shirts. I could never find shirts that weren't some or all of the following: (i) too thin, (ii) too short, (iii) too long, (iv) too skanky, (v) too stretchy, or alternatively, (vi) shapeless. The trend at all major retailers hawking clothes to Gen-Y women has been to make really long, very close-fitting, paper-thin tops. Not to play the "back in my day card", but when I worked at the Gap about 9 years ago, the tops were still a nice gauge and fit (I still WEAR some of these nigh decade-old tops, because they've held up!). You definitely only needed to wear one shirt at a time, which sounds ridiculous, but now, even after layering a couple shirts, I still kinda feel naked. Enter Land's End. I had never purchased anything from Land's End before because I thought it was frumpy, but I was game after looking over a recent catalogue. It took me a couple orders to figure out fit and size, but I can tell you that I am thrilled with their "original" fit tops. The fabric is mostly cotton. It's not see-through, and it has some give, but not too much; the length is right, the sleeves are perfect, the v-necks aren't too deeply cut, and the sizing doesn't skew on the small side. What more could I ask for? Oh yeah, colors. And they have MILLIONS of colors. To sum it up without going into too much detail, I went a little overboard. Everything is well-priced, and sure, I've made returns, but the 15 or so articles of clothing I kept really add up. But if shopping at Land's End makes me frumpy, so be it. Probably my most overdue purchase was a belt. I've only ever owned 1 belt, and it was back in middle school when everyone wore baby tees. I literally have not touched a belt since. Isn't that strange? How did I keep my pants up, especially now that the only kind of jeans out there now are the kind that get super baggy after 1 wear? I didn't. I was a serial tugger. So I am now the proud owner of the "Heritage Leather Belt", which I am happy to report does a wonderful job keeping my pants up without incessant tugging.

So that's where most of my money went. Hopefully by next month I will be better behaved.